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Survey: Pharmacies in Romania might report cumulated business figure of 30 billion lei this year
Pharmacies are now the most profitable businesses, with a business figure that might be 30 billion lei this year, a historic result, according to a Frames survey. According to the survey, businesses of the over 3,800 companies specialized in the retail sale of pharmaceutical products in specialized stores, might go over 30 billion lei, this year.
“The powerful price increase of 2022 and the significant advance of the consumption of such products made 2022 the best year in history for drug stores in Romania, with a business figure of over 27 billion lei and an estimated profit of 2 billion lei, on the rise by 800 million lei against 2021,” Frames shows.
Compared to 2010, drug store businesses went up almost three times, from 8.7 billion lei to 24.2 billion lei in 2021, and net profit doubled, from 464.4 million lei to 1.18 billion lei.
All these years, several investors foresaw the spectacular potential of this type of business, as the number of companies grew from 3261 in 2010 to 3887 in 2021.
“2019 and 2020 were years in which the pharmaceutical system in Romania consolidated, and most takeovers, mergers and business transformations took place, the number of companies dropping from 4,000 to 3,887 in 2021. This phenomenon led to more efficient economic processes, a significant proof of the business figure and of profitability,” said Adrian Negrescu, the manager of Frames.
According to official data, over 70% of companies in this sector present low and very low insolvency risk, a very rare situation in Romanian economy.
At present, most companies in this sector (1,326) have businesses between 1-5 million lei, a remarkable result in the context in which most businesses in Romanian economy (over 90%) do not generate business figures higher than 500,000 lei.
“Our estimates show that, in the years to come we will see in the Romanian market, new important players at international level, attracted by the business potential in this segment and the adjoining ones, including the nursing home area,” analysts say.
According to Finance Ministry data, in 2021, the biggest player in the pharmacy market, from the business figure point of view, was Dr MAX, with a business figure of 2.3 billion lei and 3,195 employees.
It was followed by Helpnet Farma, with businesses of 1.28 nillion lei, SIEPCORFAR (1.12 billion lei), Tei Pharmacy (867.8 million lei) and Catena (717.6 million lei).
In 2021 there were 39,183 employees in Romanian pharmacies, 15,000 more than in 2010(23,584).
Frames survey was made based on a business study made by the consulting firm devoted to companies in the retail trade of pharmaceutical products in specialized stores. The processed data were obtained from the Trade Registrar and the Finance Ministry based on public data declared by companies.